Ant Group denies talks to sell stake in Paytm

China’s Ant Group has denied plans to sell its stake in payments company One97 Communications, which runs e-payments provider Paytm, amid political tensions between the two neighbours. Ant Group, formerly Ant Financial, is part of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group.

On Wednesday, news wire Reuters reported that Ant was considering selling its 30% stake in Paytm, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

“The Reuters story is untrue,” Ant Group said on microblogging site Twitter. Ant Group’s stake in Paytm’s parent entity would be valued at about $5 billion, based on the $16 billion valuation ascribed to its business when the startup raised $1 billion in November 2019.